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Troy Perry speaks at MCC Philadelphia (1982): Reverend Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, spoke at the Philadelphia branch in February.
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The group’s first public performance was a series of 10-minute shows at 14 local gay venues, starting with Odyssey II. He worked with librarian Michael Rechel, who served as the group’s musical director. Gay Men’s Chorus forms (1981): Jerry Davis came up with the idea for the PGMC after listening to a recording of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Led by the efforts of Pat Foyle and Kirk Hoffmeier, the library housed novels on gay liberation and publications including Christopher Street, Lesbian Connection, and Off Our Back. Billed as “volleyball on an obstacle course,” the fire escapes, iron poles, and curbs, didn’t deter 50 people from playing from afternoon to dusk.Ĭommunity Center library becomes a reality (1980): Philadelphia’s gay community center, then located at 326 Kater St., opened its library in 1980. Volleyball game brings out community (1979): Community members gathered every Sunday to play volleyball on Drury Street (near Walnut). Several months earlier, the gay community had lobbied to get pro-LGBT members elected to the PAC, which was influential in building matters.
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Gay bar gets dance license (1978): With vital support from the Washington Square West Project Area Committee (PAC), the popular 12th Street gay bar Equus received its dance license. The group sponsored the 1977 Philadelphia pride rally. The group formed from the outrage over homophobe Anita Bryant’s dangerous crusade against LGBT people. New gay rights group formed (1977): Over 250 gay people and allies met at the Christian Association at UPenn and formed Philadelphians for Gay Rights. Langhorne said that committeeperson was a good entry spot for gay people to get involved in the city Democratic party. It reminds us that even amid times of strife, there are always slivers of joy to be found.įour local gay men run for office (1976): Four Philadelphia gay men, Harry Langhorne, Jack Friel, George Hodges, and Jeff Britton, filed to run for committeeperson in the 1976 primary election. They range from major community news to a simple game of volleyball. So, for this 45th anniversary of the Philadelphia Gay News, we’ve put together a list of 45 stories of goodness from the paper. It pervades every industry and comes in myriad forms. But it’s safe to assume a majority of us of a certain age grew up with more negative portrayals than positive, and that was our starting point for coming to terms with who we were.
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This is not to discount the joy that many LGBT people have always felt in their personal lives. We were portrayed as criminals, deviants, or mentally unstable, and our stories in books, films, and television were almost always negative. Until recently, queer joy was a radical act rarely shown in mainstream culture. The stories included many triumphs, such as Philly’s LGBT nondiscrimination law in 1982 and the first LGBT historical marker in 2005, but also featured a lot of what is all too common among LGBT people: murders, AIDS, and discrimination on all levels.
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Two men at the 1993 Gay World Series, hosted in Philadelphia.įive years ago, in honor of PGN’s 40th anniversary, we did a feature on the top LGBT news stories of the last four decades.